Stu G is one of the most well respected and accomplished musician/artists. It's hard to imagine in what area he has not had an impact on countless others.  From being a major force in the realm of worship through his involvement with Delirious?, to his more current role in the band One Sonic Society, he has paved a tremendous path of influence for fellow worshippers and musicians.  He's made waves in performing, songwriting, production, recording, and now even writing!

The first time I had heard Stu's guitar work, was the "King of Fools" record.  I remember being on the road with the band I was in at the time soaking in that album.  Songs like "Hands of Kindness" stayed on repeat on my portable CD player (I'm old Ok?).  As time progressed, I discovered some of their earlier albums - such as "The Cutting Edge."  Songs like "When All Around Has Fallen," and "King of Love" stayed on rotation.  One summer when we went on tour out to California, our bassist showed us "Live and In the Can."  Then add to it the rest of his discography with Delirious?: Mezzamorphis, Glo, Audio Lessonover, Touch, World Service, The Mission Bell, and Kingdom of Comfort - and this is not even including the live albums as well.  It was ridiculous how great Stu's work with ​Delirious?​ was/is.  Timeless.  He always puts the right guitar parts in the right  places - and that's one of the highest compliments I can pay a fellow musician.     

20 years later, and Stu is still putting out timeless work.  I caught up with him recently via a Skype interview to discuss his new album "The Beatitudes."  The thing that struck me by speaking with Stu, is that his heart really is to reach people.  He's on his own journey.  His own path.  And along the way, he has really turned out something really quite unique and beautiful:

The breadth of musicians and special guests on The Beatitudes project is really remarkable.  I am quite sure Stu must be very happy with how his original vision (from so many years ago) to make an album revolving around the beatitudes played out.  There's not a weak performance or a mediocre song on the whole album.  The songs are powerful, thought provoking, fresh, & inspiring.

So yesterday I wrote a quick blog post about how I believed that microphone shootouts were a big waste of time, but what I failed to do, was to clarify what was in my mind at the time when I wrote it.  I watched a microphone shootout from a retailer.  A woman was going between each one singing, and I thought - "Well that particular microphone sounds great with her voice, but how could anyone make a purchase decision based on a microphone shootout online with a totally different person, in a different studio than mine, with a different microphone preamp than mine?

I am in the market for a microphone for my wife.  She's a powerhouse of a singer with a deeper tone, and an insane range.  I can't just watch a video of a random lady with a totally different sounding voice, and say - "yup, since that microphone on that lady sounded the best, that's the one I should buy."  

​But there's no way you can tell me this right here:

...is going to be in anyway helpful for making a microphone purchase decision for my own snare, and in my own studio.  At best - it will give me a "rough sketch" of a microphone's voice.  Now as an engineer with over 25 years of experience and 100's of projects under my belt, i've heard most of those microphones over and over on snare drums.  I have my go to's because I am familiar with each of their voices, and what has worked for me in the past.  Now I can say, "for that particular snare drum, microphone x sounded the best in that video."  But, what if I have a snare drum made out of birch with an Evans Strata 700?  There is no way from that video, that I could determine which microphone would sound best in my own situation. 
​

This is where I failed to clarify my position.  You can't read my mind.  

​Just about every engineer with a decent mic cabinet will change out microphones in a session to determine what sounds the best according to the client's instrument - but in the real world, if a client is paying you by the hour, you better already know your mics so that you aren't wasting a lot of time.  This is called being professional.  Of course, nowadays, there's not much of that kind of work (hourly) going around anymore...  

1. The acoustical space you are in.  Rooms & Venues vary wildly.  Any engineer with any experience whatsoever will tell you that the space in which the microphone resides will play a BIG part in how the microphone sounds.

2. The Instrument.  Every instrument is going to sound different.  And then mix in the variables in how that instrument behaves with:
a. The musician playing the instrument.  
b. The room
c. The microphone cable (cable type, build, length, etc)
d. The temperature
e. The humidity
f. The build quality
g. The materials the instrument is made of
h. The strings, reeds, drum heads, etc
i. The age of the instrument
...just to name a few

3. The Musician/Vocalist.  Every person sounds totally different.
4. The Temperature.  Yes, temperature can make a huge difference in the sound of whatever the microphone is mic'ing.
5. Humidity.  Take a drumset, and put it in a very dry climate.  Then take that same drumset and put it in a very humid climate.  Humidity makes a big difference in how an instrument sounds.
6. Tuning.  The old music store trick of detuning an acoustic guitar comes to mind.  It'll sound richer.
7. The Amplifier - No two guitar amplifiers will sound the same.
8. The Mic Pre.  Same microphone on 2 different preamps can sound totally different!
9. Microphone Placement.  If you take a microphone and move it an just inch on most sources, there will be a tonal difference.
10. Microphone Impedance and how it behaves with whatever mic pre it's hooked up to.
11.  Cable Length.
12. Speakers.  Instrument amps vary wildly according to what brand/type of speaker it's running with.

I think you may have the idea now.